Adorable? The dog in this advertisement for doodles conveys status, the luxury of time to lounge around and read and flex your intellect. The dog makes the woman!
Speaking of intellect, here’s a novel pitch for doodles I found on the internet: “What started as a simple shared love of doodles and Jane Austen soon grew into something quite extraordinary. Today Pride and Prejudoodles is a professional doodle breeding [kennel]…”
The doodle is a faux-purebred, an intentionally bred mutt, who promises to convey the owner’s cool. Forget worrying about whether one breed is better than another. The world might assume that poodles are more hip than labs; corgis have more class than cockapoos; gordon setters have more brains than Irish setters. But doodles allow us to snub purebreds altogether. They are the great equalizers—pleasing everyone.
I found the photo above while trolling through the web pages of “puppy brokers,” which connect shoppers to a network of purebred breeders and induce them to spend thousands of dollars for a pup, sight unseen, through the use of marketing strategies. The doodle above costs almost $4,000. If you think pugs, for instance, are hard to find, there are more than 50 of them currently available on the web page of one broker, which promises that no puppy mills have entered it’s supply chain. Really? Hard to believe.
Brokers present themselves as anti puppy mill, but there is no way to verify if this is true. The brokers are sales driven and thrive on demand. In other words, declaring a position against puppy mills is simply another selling tool. Can we presume that internet brokers check where their pups come from? I mean really check—physically go and see the breeding stock— with their own eyes? Dubious.
There are probably a handful of decent breeders who use the internet. Generally, quality breeders don’t want their dogs sold to pet stores, people they don’t know, or anyone who has not been scrutinized and thoroughly checked out. Shelters and rescues do home visits; breeders want a check that doesn’t bounce. The internet asks you to fall in love with a photo but the names of the breeders are not revealed. In most cases, you do not get to meet the dog before you pay up. The dog is delivered to you like a package from Fed Ex—often with an American Kennel Club (AKC) certificate.
The dog above was bred to look like a mini-poodle mix—and she does. But the '‘lucky” person who buys her fails to understand that there are a dirty dozen just like her at the local pound. Hopefully this dog won’t end up there, too. I’m sad to say, there’s a doodle in virtually every shelter or rescue. Many of them are surrendered by breeders, along with littermates, when they aren’t sold.
Our shelters are brimming with dumped dogs, including doodles. Either they were too big, difficult to train, groom, etc. Dumping dogs is far too easy. If we really think dogs are family members would we just drop them off at the pound? Getting the perfect dog is a fantasy.
Like everyone else, I think doodles are pretty cute. In fact, I rarely meet a dog who doesn’t charm me—excluding the beagle who bit me last year. I have nothing against purebred dogs and if you need to have one—by all means find a decent breeder. That’s the point. Don’t go shopping on the internet. However, you will never catch me buying a doodle or any dog from a breeder. If I need a dachshund, or a borzoi—I will go to a shelter, a rescue, or a breed rescue and find one. I’ve been offered both these dogs and I have declined. I realize that I’m looking for a certain temperament and intelligence—not a breed. Pit bull mixes have been winning in my house for decades.
Internet breeders are interested in profits and if you are willing to buy—they will find you a purebred. Kennels are largely unmonitored and states have few regulations, if any. You may get an AKC certificate, but the AKC cannot really guarantee any pup’s health or future wellness. No one can. It’s an illusion—a sales pitch.
There is no reason to spend thousands of dollars for a dog, when there are countless dogs available all around the country. Great dogs. Do some research. Ask to see, with your own eyes, the sire, the dam, and the whole litter. (Maybe half the litter has already been sold to a pet store supplier?) Most breeders will only meet buyers away from their kennels. And we know why. Profiting from animals is not only unethical, but usually not too profitable; the kennels are depressing, dirty, stacked with small cages of dogs. Breeders don’t make much money unless they run puppy mills. First step: Check the multiple complaints against puppy brokers with the Better Business Bureau.
The AKC registers approximately one million dogs a year and it is no surprise that a hefty percentage of them end up in shelters. Sometimes, patiently searching for the right dog is part of the process. Visiting shelters and attending adoption events is instructive. We learn that dogs have personalities, feel stress, and long for home the same way we do.
The first time I met Pearl (aka Bean) she would not look me in the eye; she went flat as a pancake around new people and would not walk across thresholds from one room to another. She was kenneled in a Florida shelter after being removed from a dogfighting operation in Alabama where she had been a breeder for five years. After a successful raid, the Humane Society of the United States had tucked her away with over 100 other dogs, all waiting, safely, for their court cases to be resolved. Ten years ago, my friend, Cydney Cross, the co-founder of Out of the Pits, and I were checking out the dogs from this bust. The case was called “The 367” because that was the number of pit bull survivors from the raid. We would eventually pick six or seven to take north for adoption. That day in Florida, I looked at Pearl—terrified of everything and everyone—and said to Cyd, “Who is going to adopt her? She is so troubled.” Cyd knew exactly who was going to take her home.
Dogs are so forgiving.
Pearl.
🤗🤗🤗